diff --git a/audio.js b/audio.js
index 9685a2c..141c24a 100644
--- a/audio.js
+++ b/audio.js
@@ -24,9 +24,17 @@ function reverb(ac) { // stadium PA tail: exponentially decaying noise as impuls
   return reverbNode;
 }
 
+// The umpire is one man with one microphone. Several triggers landing together used to play two or
+// three lines on top of each other; a line that would start while he is still talking is DROPPED.
+// The check happens at play time (not call time) so a first-play fetch/decode is judged fairly.
+let voiceUntil = 0;
+
 export function voice(name, delay = 0, rate = 1) {
   const ac = audio();
   const play = buf => {
+    const at = ac.currentTime + delay;
+    if (at < voiceUntil) return;
+    voiceUntil = at + buf.duration / rate + 0.2; // + a breath, so lines never butt against each other
     const src = ac.createBufferSource(); src.buffer = buf;
     src.playbackRate.value = rate; // < 1 = slower and lower — the umpire's dark register
     src.connect(ac.destination); // dry
diff --git a/config.js b/config.js
index cb93afb..73c4903 100644
--- a/config.js
+++ b/config.js
@@ -185,8 +185,15 @@ export const TUNE = {
                     // is why switching tins felt fiddly. rackHit also pads the touch band (render.js).
   bombRadius: 4.2,  // m blast radius of a bomb ball — 2.5 barely cleared the bodies stood on the crater
   hordeLen: 12,     // s a horde wave lasts
-  hordeRate: 2.5,   // zombies spawned per second during a horde
-  mgRate: 6,        // machine-gun pellets fired per second during a horde
+  hordeRate: 3.5,   // zombies spawned per second during a horde. Raised WITH the gun buff below: the
+                    // wave is meant to leave a standing crowd on your half when it ends, not to be a
+                    // twelve-second interruption that clears itself.
+  mgRate: 12,       // machine-gun pellets fired per second during a horde. It scales with hordeGrow too
+                    // (see startHorde): at 6/s single-target the gun simply could not out-kill a grown
+                    // wave — Oliver died on the second horde of every run.
+  mgSpread: 6,      // ± degrees of pellet spread — a cone that sweeps bodies, not a needle up the middle
+  mgPelletR: 0.5,   // m of extra hit radius on a pellet: a fat round. "Bigger ball = more damage."
+  dmgPelletHp: 2,   // hp a pellet takes off a body — shamblerHp is 2, so the horde gun one-shots them
   mgPickupLen: 8,   // s the machine-gun tin (4th delivery) auto-fires outside hordes
   fps: 60,          // frame cap — 30 halves battery/heat but Oliver felt it; smoothness wins (0 = uncapped)
   runnerSpeed: 3.2, // runner ('f') speed multiplier over the shamble
diff --git a/gameplay.js b/gameplay.js
index ed35331..c4f28ab 100644
--- a/gameplay.js
+++ b/gameplay.js
@@ -534,12 +534,14 @@ function startHorde() {
   G.changeover = false; // a cheat-forced horde mid-changeover must not leave spawns locked
   G.pendingGame = false; // the horde IS the announcement
   const grow = 1 + (G.sets[0] + G.sets[1]) * TUNE.hordeGrow; // each set banked makes the next wave worse
-  G.horde = { t: TUNE.hordeLen * grow, spawnT: 0, mgT: 0, rate: TUNE.hordeRate * grow };
+  // the gun grows WITH the wave: spawn rate and length both scale by grow, so a flat gun fell
+  // further behind on every set banked (the second horde was where every run ended)
+  G.horde = { t: TUNE.hordeLen * grow, spawnT: 0, mgT: 0, rate: TUNE.hordeRate * grow, mgRate: TUNE.mgRate * grow };
   ball.active = false; G.phase = 'rally';           // ball gone; 'rally' lets the movement block steer P
   P.pose = 'idle'; P.poseT = 0; P.swingT = -1;      // clear the triggering shot's serve/swing pose
   P.z = HOME.P.z;                                   // brace at the baseline — the horde is a hold-the-line stand (finger steers x only)
-  voice('remain_seated', 0.3);
-  aside('ump_spectators', 2.2); // a horde IS the crowd on the court
+  aside('ump_spectators', 0.4); // a horde IS the crowd on the court. (The near-identical 'remain seated'
+                                // that used to play right before it belongs to the transition, not here.)
   G.flash = { text: 'THEY KEEP COMING', t: 1.2 };
 }
 
diff --git a/render.js b/render.js
index 8508268..d84a931 100644
--- a/render.js
+++ b/render.js
@@ -416,6 +416,10 @@ function drawChar(ch) {
   if (ch.pose === 'swing') name = pre + (ch.poseT < 0.15 ? 'swing1' : 'swing2');
   if (ch.pose === 'serve') name = pre + (G.phase === 'toss' ? 'toss' : 'smash');
   if (ch.pose === 'run') p.y -= Math.floor(ch.runT * 18) % 2; // 1px run bob
+  // Auto-fire: the idle sprite carries a racket at his hip AND drawMgRacket puts one in his hands —
+  // two rackets. The run frames are the racket-less art, so he jogs on the spot instead.
+  if (ch.side === 'P' && ch.pose === 'idle' && G.mode === 'splatter' && (G.horde || G.mgT > 0))
+    name = pre + (Math.floor(G.idleT * 6) % 2 ? 'run1' : 'run2');
   const img = SPR[name];
   drawShadow(p.x, p.y, hpx * 0.22, hpx * 0.06);
   if (img) {
@@ -450,7 +454,8 @@ function drawMgRacket() { // horde: the player braces the racket forward and up-
   ctx.strokeStyle = '#b07030'; ctx.lineWidth = 1.5; // the head, aimed forward
   ctx.beginPath(); ctx.ellipse(tip.x, tip.y, Math.max(2, tip.s * 0.14), Math.max(3, tip.s * 0.22), 0, 0, 7); ctx.stroke();
   const cool = G.horde ? G.horde.mgT : G.mgCool; // horde or GUN-tin pickup — same racket
-  if (cool > 1 / TUNE.mgRate - 0.06) { // muzzle flash right after a shot
+  const rate = G.horde ? G.horde.mgRate || TUNE.mgRate : TUNE.mgRate;
+  if (cool > 1 / rate - 0.03) { // muzzle flash right after a shot
     ctx.fillStyle = '#fff0a0'; ctx.beginPath(); ctx.arc(tip.x, tip.y, Math.max(2, tip.s * 0.12), 0, 7); ctx.fill();
   }
 }
@@ -805,7 +810,7 @@ export function render() {
   for (const pe of pellets) {
     const sh = proj(pe.x, 0, pe.z); drawShadow(sh.x, sh.y, Math.max(1, sh.s * 0.04), Math.max(1, sh.s * 0.02), 0.25);
     const pp = proj(pe.x, pe.y, pe.z);
-    ctx.fillStyle = UI.warm; ctx.fillRect((pp.x | 0) - 1, (pp.y | 0) - 1, 2, 2);
+    ctx.fillStyle = UI.warm; ctx.fillRect((pp.x | 0) - 2, (pp.y | 0) - 2, 4, 4); // fat round — it hits like one
   }
   // death, in three stages. A: you are still there, thrashing and going red as they crowd in.
   // B (from EATEN_BURST): the sprite is gone and you ARE the gore — playerGore() drops the mound.
@@ -905,7 +910,18 @@ export function render() {
     if (G.eatenT > EATEN_RESTART) { ctx.fillStyle = UI.warm; ctx.font = F(8); ctx.fillText('TAP TO PLAY AGAIN', W / 2, H / 2 + 26); }
     ctx.restore();
   }
-  if (G.phase === 'pretoss' && score.server === 'P' && G.mode !== 'eaten' && !G.horde && !(G.mgT > 0) && !G.aim) { // while pulling, the draw meter owns this slot
+  // Timed freezes swallow every input until they run out, which reads as the game having hung
+  // ("sometimes the controls just feel frozen"). Show the clock instead of hiding it. A modal is
+  // excluded on purpose — that one waits for YOU, and says so.
+  const waitT = G.modal || G.mode === 'eaten' ? 0
+    : Math.max(G.changeover > 0 ? G.changeover : 0,
+               G.phase === 'over' ? G.overT : 0,
+               G.interlude ? G.interlude.introT : 0);
+  if (waitT > 0.5) {
+    ctx.font = F(7, 0); ctx.fillStyle = hexA(UI.warm, 0.8);
+    ctx.fillText('RESUMING IN ' + Math.ceil(waitT), W / 2, 78); // under the flash line, clear of the court and the man
+  }
+  if (G.phase === 'pretoss' && score.server === 'P' && G.mode !== 'eaten' && !G.horde && !(G.mgT > 0) && !G.aim && waitT <= 0.5) { // while pulling, the draw meter owns this slot
     ctx.fillStyle = UI.warm; ctx.font = F(8);
     const touch = IS_TOUCH, switchHint = touch ? 'TAP THE RACK TO SWITCH' : '1-5 TO SWITCH';
     const sel = ['PLAIN', 'BOMB', 'TRIPLE', 'FIRE', 'GUN'][G.weapon];
diff --git a/zombies.js b/zombies.js
index a2a60f8..30ac6c2 100644
--- a/zombies.js
+++ b/zombies.js
@@ -304,10 +304,11 @@ function splatter(i, fanfare = true) { // the MAIN ball hit a zombie
 function spawnHordeZombie() { // all from the far baseline, across the court — never off-screen at the sides
   spawnZombie((Math.random() * 2 - 1) * 5, -1.5 - Math.random(), Math.random() < 0.5 ? 'a' : 'b');
 }
+let mgTick = 0;
 function firePellet() {
-  const a = (Math.random() * 2 - 1) * 4 * Math.PI / 180, s = 26; // ±4° spread, straight up-court (-z)
+  const a = (Math.random() * 2 - 1) * TUNE.mgSpread * Math.PI / 180, s = 26; // spread cone, straight up-court (-z)
   pellets.push({ x: P.x, y: 0.9, z: P.z, vx: Math.sin(a) * s, vz: -Math.cos(a) * s, t: 1.2 });
-  pock(0.25, 1400); // rapid fire tick; if it clips on device, gate to every 2nd pellet
+  if (++mgTick % 2 === 0) pock(0.25, 1400); // rapid fire tick, every 2nd round — at 12+/s every round buzzes
 }
 export function spawnRacketZombie() { // one takes up residence on the far court — an opponent, of sorts
   // He stiffens as the run goes on. hpMax is stored because the wound skins and bleed() anchors read
@@ -338,7 +339,7 @@ function tickHorde(dt) {
     if (zombies.length < TUNE.zHordeCap) spawnHordeZombie(); // ...but bounded, see TUNE.zHordeCap
     h.spawnT = 1 / (h.rate || TUNE.hordeRate);
   }
-  if ((h.mgT -= dt) <= 0) { firePellet(); h.mgT = 1 / TUNE.mgRate; }
+  if ((h.mgT -= dt) <= 0) { firePellet(); h.mgT = 1 / (h.mgRate || TUNE.mgRate); }
   if (h.t <= 0) endHorde();
 }
 
@@ -578,12 +579,12 @@ export function updateZombies(dt) {
     for (let j = zombies.length - 1; j >= 0; j--) {
       const zb = zombies[j];
       if (!zb) continue;
-      if (Math.hypot(zb.x - pe.x, zb.z - pe.z) < hitR(zb)) {
+      if (Math.hypot(zb.x - pe.x, zb.z - pe.z) < hitR(zb) + TUNE.mgPelletR) {
         // Pellets used to skip the boss entirely, so a GUN burst (and every horde) did literally
         // nothing to him with no feedback at all. They CHIP him now: dmgPellet is fractional, so
         // three rounds take a point off and the gun is a slow, committed answer rather than a no-op.
         if (isBoss(zb)) { if (wound(zb, TUNE.dmgPellet, false)) killZombie(j, true); else pock(0.45, 240); }
-        else if (zb.hp > 1) { zb.hp--; pock(0.5, 260); } // brutes AND shamblers soak pellets — wound, don't kill
+        else if ((zb.hp -= TUNE.dmgPelletHp) > 0) pock(0.5, 260); // only brutes soak now; a shambler drops to one round
         else killZombie(j, true);
         hit = true; break;
       }